Belsay Hall is a 19th century country mansion located at Belsay

Belsay

Belsay is a village in Northumberland, England. It is situated about to the north-west of Ponteland on the A696 which links the village with Newcastle upon Tyne and Jedburgh....

, Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

. It is a Grade I listed building.

History

The house was built between 1810 and 1817 for Sir Charles Monck

Sir Charles Monck, 6th Baronet

Sir Charles Miles Lambert Monck, 6th Baronet succeeded to the Baronetcy of Belsay Castle on the death of his father in 1795...

 (then of Belsay Castle

Belsay Castle

Belsay Castle is a 14th century medieval castle situated at Belsay, Northumberland, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building....

 close by) to a design by architect John Dobson

John Dobson (architect)

John Dobson was a 19th-century English architect in the neoclassical tradition. He became the most noted architect in the North of England. Churches and houses by him dot the North East - Nunnykirk Hall, Meldon Park, Mitford Hall, Lilburn Tower, St John the Baptist Church in Otterburn,...

. It is built in ashlar

Ashlar

Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

 with a Lakeland slate roof in the Greek Doric

Doric order

The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...

 style.

The house measures 100 feet (30 m) square with a lower kitchen wing attached to the north side. Externally the house appears to have two stories,although there is an additional storey hidden within the roof space to house servants etc.

This service side of the house was badly affected by dry rot

Dry rot

Dry rot refers to a type of wood decay caused by certain types of fungi, also known as True Dry Rot, that digests parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness...

 in the 1970s and, following remedial work, it has been left as a weather-proof shell to illustrate how the house was built. The hall was the residence of the Middleton family

Middleton Baronets

There have been six Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Middleton, four in the Baronetage of England, one in the Baronetage of Great Britain and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom...

 until 1962.

Present day

The entire Belsay Hall house is unfurnished and maintained in a condition of benign decay, with only necessary structural maintenance undertaken. This allows it to be used as a setting for bespoke art installations each summer.

Belsay Hall is administered by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

and is open to the public. There are extensive gardens, formal and naturalistic, such as the Quarry Garden.

External links

• official Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens website - at English Heritage